Indycar - Texas Motor Speedway

[DooberRoni]

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/IndyTexasPost2.png

Updates in progress! Getting setup for the week.

Check back later. As Jack Bauer says
"We're running out of time'

[ÜberDoober]

Time's up, dood. You're dropping the ball. :winky:

I'm looking forward to this race, Saturday night under the lights from TMS. Can't think of anything better to do than have a beer or two and watch some open-wheel racing. I even have the house to myself this weekend as the g/f is taking the dog and going to visit her folks!

Scanning the various forums and websites, Danica Patrick is finally gaining some cred, or so it seems? I like her as a driver and as a personality in the sport but absolutely cannot stand her off track in her photo shoots and sleazy commercials. In one respect, she's an awesome role model for young girls but has blown the whole thing, IMO, by objectifying herself.

At any rate, with Andretti as her coach, I think she has settled down this season and delivered respectible and fairly consistent results - four consecutive top-five finishes and a 3rd in the Indy 500.

Championship Standings:
Scott Dixon
Ryan Briscoe -4 pts
Dario Franchitti -4 pts
Danica Patrick -22 pts
Helio Castroneves -2 pts

[LittleAlguy]

I guess you don't want to see her latest Boost Mobile ad. Even I had to go, "Man, that was so unnecessary." :ack2: Having said that, while I doubt that she'll hang in there all season with the Penske duo and Ganassi duo, it'd be great if she does happen to contend to the title. Same for Graham (it's great he and N/H/L have improved so much on the ovals).

Also, it's so great that they're back on VERSUS.

[LittleAlguy]

Whoa there, Graham and TK. No need to be so close this soon. :winky:

Hopefully, they have done something to allow cars to not get so nervous in traffic.

[LittleAlguy]

So far, they've been pretty racy in practice. Hopefully, something similar will be seen Saturday.

[LittleAlguy]

Oh my goodness, Wheldon and Moraes nearly touched in the frontstretch (maybe they did touch, just).

[LittleAlguy]

It would be great if they showed the qualifying lap instead of a car idle on pit lane. :mad:

Well, they showing DP's laps but forget Jaques. Pfft. She does have the early fast time. It's still pretty bright so that time is unlikely to stand.

OK, now they're not even showing Kanaan? Ridiculous.

[LittleAlguy]

Here's the qualifying order: http://www.indycar.com/news/2009/texas/TMS_2009-03_Qualification_Order_and_Friday_Practice_Groups. pdf

They just showed Graham, ignored Mutoh. Must be doing every other car.

Dixon is first into the 214 mph avg. lap range.

[ÜberDoober]

DOH! Crap I missed it. :realMad:

My main PC blew up yesterday and I have been scrambling to put life back to normal. It's been a day and half now and I'm getting close. Everything else in life has been put on hold and I was thinking qualifying was later in the day.

Dang! From the sound of things, they're messing it up pretty good anyway? I'll be online for the race tomorrow for sure. Thanks for the updates. :winky:

[LittleAlguy]

Briscoe takes provisional pole from Dixon.

Franchitti takes it from Briscoe.

Wheldon surprisingly is just 6th (as of now). Alright, now they're showing them all (on indycar.com, that is).

[ÜberDoober]

Oops, wait a minute..were you watching online? I don't think it's on VS for another 5 minutes or so? I'll watch but I'm doing about a million other things.

Worked on my PC until 2:45am and didn't feel like getting up at 4:00 to watch F1 practice either. Plan to go to bed early tonight so I don't miss Q.

[LittleAlguy]

Good run from Tags. 12th in the provisional grid with just a couple to go.

Hmm, Penske and Ganassi in the front two rows. Color me shocked. :P

Dario wins pole for tomorrow's race.

[ÜberDoober]

Showtime! Good timing too...the pizza is still too hot to eat. Decided to have a big glass of chocolate milk instead of beer. :blink:

[LittleAlguy]

Chocolate milk is still good. :coolshades:

I see Shaq!

[ÜberDoober]

How many freakin' times can she say umm? :ack2:

[LittleAlguy]

As many times as she can say "Y'know". :D

Prediction for the winner: I'll go a little outside of the box and say Wheldon.

[LittleAlguy]

Yeah, we saw that excessive g-loading during the infamous CART event in '01.

Man, two stories high? :ack2:

[LittleAlguy]

Oops, he missed a row.

The front four made a great start. Danica made a slow one. Scheckter and Matos made up some spots.

Rahal, Duno, and Viso collect.

[ÜberDoober]

Wow! That looks like a big crowd?

Uh oh. Duno and Rahal. Wasn't her fault or so it seems?

[ÜberDoober]

Ooo! looking at the replay, that was worse than I first thought. Viso took quite a lick on the inside wall.

[LittleAlguy]

Wow! That looks like a big crowd?

Uh oh. Duno and Rahal. Wasn't her fault or so it seems?

Nope. Neither Viso nor Duno were at fault. Just seemed like Rahal's car had an unusually bad handling car. Perhaps a result of the truck series rubber (acc. to Beekhuis).

[ÜberDoober]

That's a bunch of torn up equipment.

Beekers, TK doesn't want to talk to you. :)

[LittleAlguy]

Hunter-Reay, Conway, Wilson, and Lazier have pitted (Lazier had to make an adjustment to a stretched cable).

Kanaan has moved up to 8th already.

[LittleAlguy]

Marco uses the high line well just like last year.

[ÜberDoober]

Yeah, Marco is moving up.

[LittleAlguy]

Now Danica gets by Marco in T4.

She lifted big time it sounded like.

Conway in trouble. They're not in a huge rush.

[ÜberDoober]

What a novelty, green flag stops! :winky:

[LittleAlguy]

First scheduled stop is Foyt. Marco and Wheldon pit. Danica the following lap. They were around 55.

Carpenter in on L58. So is Fisher.

[LittleAlguy]

Seems like we're getting an even greater than usual fill of DP ads.

[LittleAlguy]

Helio takes third from Dario. Scheckter seems to be giving those 2nd through 5th place cars some trouble.

That's a little TOO high, Marco.

[ÜberDoober]

Like they just said, it doesn't look like anybody has anything for Briscoe. He's lapped up to 10th already?

[LittleAlguy]

Just lapped TK in 8th. Wow. :eek:

[ÜberDoober]

2 consecutive rounds of green flag stops. How long since that happened?

[LittleAlguy]

Wow, that's a pretty cool system. It'll keep the car in neutral while they are hooked to the fuel rig.

[LittleAlguy]

2 consecutive rounds of green flag stops. How long since that happened?

LOL, I know.

Helio with the pass on the outside.

[LittleAlguy]

Marco gets 3rd. If this were the battle for the lead, this would be awesome. Briscoe has told otherwise.

[ÜberDoober]

NASCAR yellow to make it interesting again.

[LittleAlguy]

Why did I have a feeling that would happen?

[LittleAlguy]

Mutoh with some gear linkage mess.

Matos trying to do the Motegi strategy.

[LittleAlguy]

Helio on the back of Briscoe. Can he make a pass now or will he wait?

Dario is having trouble keeping up with the top 4 and has Wheldon on his back.

[ÜberDoober]

Caution again in the little window.

[ÜberDoober]

Cripes! Let's set Kanaan on fire again. :ack2:

[ÜberDoober]

Dang, Rutherford looks pretty good.

[LittleAlguy]

Yikes, TK was nearly en fuego again. :ack2:

I got to shake Rutherford's hand at Macy's.

[ÜberDoober]

Woo Hoo! Now we've got some racing! :thumbup1:

[LittleAlguy]

It's getting hairy now. Can they last 'til the end (for green flag laps, I mean)?

[LittleAlguy]

Seems like Briscoe won't have much on his own.

Helio takes the win. Briscoe must be disappointed with that result. Marco makes the run of the race for 4th.

[ÜberDoober]

Another final commercial break? How does that work?

You were right. Every other commercial is DP. Now two in a row. :puke:

[ÜberDoober]

Jeezus! Show the waving checkered flags instead of who finishes 3, 4th and 5th.

If Marco and Patrick hadn't jacked around with each other, they both could have gotten around Franchitti.

Congrats Helio!

[ÜberDoober]

Dat's it for me tonight - been up since 3:45am and am pooped. Thanks for joining me this evening. It's been a pleasure as always.

Too bad there's no live F1 tomorrow but it will nice to sleep until after the sun comes up.

See ya, LitleAlguy! :winky:

[LittleAlguy]

See you, UberDoober. Have a good sleep!